Parvati Valley
More actions
| Parvati Valley | |
|---|---|
| Parbati Valley, Manikaran Valley | |
| ActiveCannabis last recorded here in 2025 | |
| |
| Looking up from Rasol towards the trail to the Vairam fields. | |
| Hierarchy | |
| Gene Pool | South Asian Gene Pool |
| Regional Complex | Hindu Kush-Himalayan |
| Growing Region | Western Himalayas |
| Geography | |
| Country | India |
| Province/State | Himachal Pradesh |
| District | Kullu District |
| Coordinates | 32.01, 77.37 |
| Landscape | |
| Elevation | 2,025–3,237 m |
| Area | 630 km² |
| Terrain | Deep glaciated river valley from the Pin Parvati Pass to the Beas at Bhuntar; terraced village fields and forest clearings on the slopes, conifer forest and high pastures |
| Climate | |
| Climate Type | Temperate montane; generally cool and dry, with monsoon rain |
| Rainfall | 1,405 mm |
| Seasons | Monsoon (Jun–Sep), with 57 per cent of annual rainfall |
| Growing history | |
| Dated accessions | 2018–2025 |
| Documentation | |
| Appellations | 19 |
| Accessions | 76 |
| Conservation | |
| Populations | 10 documented Field grade: 10 Data deficient 10 not yet assessed |
| Holdings | Holdings: 8 Urgent · 2 Data deficient |
| In a population | 61 of 76 accessions |
| Seed lots | 61 (59 Urgent · 2 Data deficient) |
| Priorities | Grow-out priorities |
Parvati Valley is a landrace cannabis growing area in the Western Himalayas growing region, comprising the valley of the Parvati river in Kullu District, Himachal Pradesh, India. The river rises from the Mantalai glacier at 5,200 m below the Pin Parvati Pass and drains an area of 1,938 km² before joining the Beas at Bhuntar, at 1,096 m.[1] The Malana Valley, a side valley that joins it from the north at Jari,[2] is documented as a separate growing area, as is the Kullu Valley of the main Beas. In the colonial revenue divisions the valley was the waziri of Rupi, except for the right bank of its lower course, which J. B. Lyall's settlement report of 1874 placed in Waziri Parol "up to the mouth of the Malauna gorge".[3][4]
The accessions documented in the valley come from Grahan and its neighbours Pulgi and Thunja in a side valley above Kasol, from Rasol, from Tosh and the Kutla fields above it, from Lapas above Manikaran and from Gohar, at elevations recorded between 2,025 and 3,237 m. The accession pages record 40 accessions from the 2022 harvest, collected under the expedition code HIMA01; 18 more were collected in October 2025. The collection documentation of the Zomia Collective describes the valley as "known for high-density charas production and ongoing hybrid pressure".[5]
A report of 1880, printed with the evidence of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission in 1894, named Rupi and Seoraj as the parts of the Kulu sub-division where bhangolu, the parched hemp seed eaten locally, was found "in largest quantity".[6] Prasenjeet Tribhuvan, who spent about 14 months on fieldwork in the valley, described it in 2018 as "the crux of charas cultivation and trade in the district", with more than 70 villages. He wrote that the local economy "in the Parvati valley and other parts of Kullu district has transformed remarkably in the last 25 years".[7]: 505, 508 The district police reported cultivation "in an organised way in Parbati and Manikaran valleys" in 2019.[8] Reporting on the state's 2026 rules for licensed cultivation named cannabis as the source of the illicit trade in charas "in Kullu's Parvati Valley and high-altitude Malana".[9]
Geography
A water-quality study of the river places its basin between 31°50′ and 32°05′ N and 77°05′ and 77°50′ E, with a branching, dendritic pattern of tributaries.[1] The 1917 gazetteer places the confluence "at Bhuin (six miles below Kulu)", where the Parvati "at its junction is as large as the Beas".[2] George Trebeck, whose journal of 1820 is printed in the Travels of William Moorcroft and Trebeck (1841), wrote that little was known of the river beyond Kanaonwa, "a village on its right bank, twenty kacha kos north-east of Mani karn"; its source was "supposed to be a day's journey" further on.[10]: 179 In 1883, according to the gazetteer of 1897, Louis Dane sent two men to explore a route from the Chandra side; they came out at Tos in Waziri Rupi.[3]: Spiti, 110 Dane himself later crossed "direct from Spiti into Kulu by a high pass between the Pin Valley and source of the Parbati in Waziri Rupi".[2] Extracts from the diary he submitted in August 1884, printed as an appendix to the 1897 gazetteer, record the crossing on 11 August.[3]: Spiti, App. II, 125
The gazetteer of 1897 describes a road "possible for a hill-pony only" running from Manikaran up the valley to Pulga, "where there is a forest officer's rest-house".[3] The 1917 gazetteer lists forest rest-houses at Bhuin, Jari and Pulga and a civil rest-house at Manikaran on the Manikaran road. It gives the elevations of its stages as 3,700 ft (about 1,130 m) at Bhuin, 5,000 ft (1,520 m) at Jari, 5,700 ft (1,740 m) at Manikaran and 7,000 ft (2,130 m) at Pulga.[2] It traces an older trade route that went "by the upper Chandra valley as far as Puti Runi, thence to the Tos Nal and Pulga" and on to Rampur, "in use in the time of Sidh Singh".[2]
The district's hazard profile, without naming a study, gives a retreat of 178 m a year for the Parbati glacier between 1962 and 2000.[11] A study of the glacier published in 2005 reported a retreat of 578 m between 1990 and 2001, almost 52 m a year.[12]
Hot springs
Hot springs rise at Manikaran, Kasol, Jan and Kheerganga. The hottest, at Manikaran, reach 96 °C; the hottest at Kasol is 76 °C and the single spring at Jan 34 °C. All but the spring at Kheerganga, about 25 km upstream of Manikaran and some 100 m above the river, lie within 10 m of the river level.[13] At Manikaran, a village at 1,760 m, the geothermal field extends for about 1 km from the Harihar temple at the entrance of the village to the confluence of the Parvati with the Brahmaganga Nala. Its authors give reservoir temperatures of 150 to 250 °C from geothermometers; they consider it "quite likely" that the discharges come from the Puga geothermal system in Ladakh, though "there is no concluding evidence about it".[13] Trebeck described the water at Mani Karn as "hot enough to boil rice". A dharma sala, in which pilgrims were lodged and fed, was "maintained at the expense of the Raja".[10]: 177–178 A. F. P. Harcourt described Manikaran in 1871 as "some seven or eight Hindoo temples and fifty or sixty houses" on the right bank of the river. Its springs, he wrote, "have long been noted places of resort for devotees, who come to this shrine even from Madras!"[14]
Collecting localities
Grahan, Pulgi and Thunja lie in a side valley reached from Kasol, where a road "stretches halfway along the bottom from Kasol to the trailheads for Thunja, Grahan, and Pulgi". The collection documentation gives Grahan and Pulgi as south-facing at about 2,400 m and Thunja as south-west-facing at 2,500 m.[15] A diary post of 8 September 2022 carries "pictures from the 9km trek up to Grahan from Kasol".[16] The documentation places Rasol at 2,600 m "above Chalal", with its fields spread around it: the Ja fields to the east; the Oridhar fields "along the trek to Rasol Pass"; the Vairam fields to the west at 2,600 to 2,900 m, with the Vairam Top fields from 3,000 m; and Parla Thatch at 3,200 m "extending into the upper Parvati Valley toward Choj".[17] Tosh stands "at the end of a newly constructed road from Barshaini", with the Kutla fields above it and higher fields at Goi, Chorang and Sharam Thatch.[18] Lapas sits "on a southerly exposed slope below Sargi Top, above Bareonah Valley, and the entrance to Manikaran at 2500m"; its fields run from 2,600 m above the village to Gunguni Dhar at 3,500 m.[19]
The accession pages give elevations of 2,187 to 2,769 m at Grahan, 2,289 m at Pulgi, 2,450 to 2,600 m at Thunja, 2,277 to 2,933 m at Rasol and its Vairam fields, 2,976 m for the Parla Thatch field recorded under Gohar, 2,400 to 2,639 m at Tosh, 2,764 to 3,237 m in the Kutla fields and 2,025 to 3,179 m at Lapas.
Hydropower
NHPC's Parbati power station is built in stages. Stage II, an 800 MW run-of-river scheme with a small pondage on the river, was declared commercially operational in April 2025.[20] Stage III, a 520 MW storage scheme commissioned in 2014, draws on the Parvati, three named side streams and, through Stage II, the Jiva Nala and the Sainj river.[21]
Administration
At the 2011 Census the enumerated villages of the valley lay in Kullu sub-district and the Kullu community development block.[22] The district administration lists Bhuntar among its seven tehsils and six development blocks and Jari among its two sub-tehsils.[23] The accession pages record Bhuntar tehsil and Bhuntar block.
Climate
The water-quality study describes the climate of the valley as "generally cool and dry", with annual rainfall of 1,405 mm, 57 per cent of it falling from June to September; it takes these figures from a groundwater report of 2013 for the district.[1] A. H. Diack's settlement report of 1898 describes the high pastures "towards the sources of the Parbati, Sainj and Tirthan rivers", where "the monsoon rainfall though almost continuous takes the form of a thin drizzle or Scotch mist".[24]
History
Waziri Rupi
Lyall's settlement report describes Kullu as containing "three great divisions, viz. Waziri Parol, Lag, and Rupi". His description of Waziri Parol took in "the right side of the Parbatti valley up to the mouth of the Malauna gorge, whence the line climbs to the ridge which divides the Malauna valley from Mani Karan"; he described "kothi Kanawar, in Waziri Rupi" as holding "the best nigahrs", the high pastures, in Kulu.[4] Diack's settlement report records that in the Rupi kothis of Sahnsar and Kanawar "certain alpine pastures are recorded as open to foreign grazing subject to the provision that sufficient must remain for the local flocks".[24] The district administration's history records that the British gave "sovereign powers to Thakar Singh within the jagir of Rupi". In 1852, it records, his son Gyan Singh "was given the title of Rai instead of Raja".[25] Harcourt, writing of "the Parbuttee valley in Wuzeeri-Rupi", called it "exceedingly beautiful".[14]
Hemp and bhang in the colonial record
Alexander Anderson, as Assistant Commissioner of Kulu, wrote in a report of 1880, which he later attached to his evidence to the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, that "so far as I have been able to ascertain the only part of the cultivated plant used in Kulu as a drug is the seed called bhangolu", parched and mixed with parched grain. It was "found in largest quantity in Rupi and Seoraj, and in Kulu principally in the Kothis on the Sarvari, where also the hemp plant grows wild".[6] Of the resin rubbed by hand from the leaves of the local plant, he wrote that "a man can make in one day from Kulu bhang only enough for two smokes". The drug, he wrote, was "very little used in Kulu", its principal consumers being "some of the bairagis and the fakirs, who have come up here on pilgrimage".[6] The gazetteer of 1897 records that in Waziri Rupi "a mildly intoxicating, but very refreshing, infusion of hemp-leaves (bhang), violets, and sugar is occasionally indulged in at fairs".[3]: 34 It states that hemp in the sub-division was grown "exclusively for the sake of the fibre" and untaxed.[3]: 112 The 1917 gazetteer records that opium was grown in every kothi of the sub-division "except those at the head of the Beas, Sarvari and Parbati valleys".[2]
Tourism
A survey of the Manikaran valley published in 2018 describes tourism as an activity "which has established in last one or two decades", beside the agriculture and horticulture on which the villagers mainly depend.[26] Tribhuvan writes that "in the last two decades or more, a major proportion of tourists entering the valley are drug tourists" who "plan especially long vacations in the region to smoke charas". He adds that a Lonely Planet guide marked the valley with a red star "to signify it as a place to find the best hashish in the world".[7]: 508 The Associated Press reported in 2016 an influx of "foreign and local tourists" into the valley that had "grown each year in the past decade".[27] A Tribune report of 2018 named Kasol, Tosh, Rasol, Malana and Manikaran as villages "offering hotels, guest houses and lodges". It stated that around 20 foreigners had gone missing in Kullu district over three decades, the first in the Manikaran valley in August 1991.[28]
Demography
Among the villages of the valley enumerated at the 2011 Census, Manikaran (enumerated as Manikarn) had 6,136 inhabitants in 1,295 households on 821 ha; Jari had 2,725 and Sosan 2,724. Kasol, Pulga, Kalga, Barshaini, Nakthan, Lapas, Tosh and Rasol do not appear as separate villages.[22] Tribhuvan gives the valley "more than 70 villages".[7]: 508 The survey of the Manikaran valley records that its people speak Hindi and the Kulluvi dialect.[26]
The Tribune reported in 2019, citing police sources, that "Nepalese labourers" were "engaged in growing cannabis in far-flung areas" of the state.[29] In October 2023 it reported that "many persons from Nepal had descended on Manikaran" the previous month and gone "deep into remote forest areas to extract cannabis from hemp plants".[30] An assistant superintendent of police told ETV Bharat in 2025 that the charas trade in Kullu used Nepali labourers for smuggling. He said that 30 per cent of those arrested with consignments of charas were of Nepali origin.[31]
Culture
The survey of the Manikaran valley, carried out in 2015 to 2017 at Kasol, Rasol, Pulga, Kalga and Tosh, records the plant in religious use: it is made into ghota, offered to Shiva at Shivratri; its leaves are offered in the god's daily worship.[26] In one of the villages where Tribhuvan worked, the village devta declared "a ban on all intoxicants (including alcohol, but not cannabis)" within the village boundary; many villagers continued to sell intoxicants in their guesthouses.[7]: 514 G. M. Young recorded in 1916 that Gaiphan, the god of a peak in Lahul, was believed to come once a year to his temple at Barshaini to meet his brother Jamlu, the deity of Malana, after which the two gods went to a place two miles away to bathe together.[32]
Uses of the plant
The same survey describes hemp fibre worked by hand. Full-grown plants are cut and left in the open for about a month to dew-ret, then placed in running water such as a kulh channel; the fibre (shel) is stripped from the bark by crushing or beating and dried in the sun.[26] It is made into pullan footwear, worn at religious ceremonies, within sacred precincts and, with a leather sole, on snow. It is also made into ropes, mats and the bull masks called chikda; another form of the fibre, cheuli, is used by women to make the tawa griddle non-stick, rubbed against it with a little oil.[26] The seed, mangolu, is roasted until it crackles and ground with garlic, salt and green chillies into a condiment for vegetables and for the dish siddu. It goes into chutney with dadhu, a local pomegranate; the roasted seed is also eaten with jaggery. Women make the winter dish aaksalu from hemp seed with wheat or rice flour, cooked in stone pots called patel.[26] Hemp leaves wrap the bricks of dhehli, the starter used to ferment the local drink sur, which are dried between them for one to two months. The survey also records the seed oil massaged on painful joints.[26]
The charas economy
Tribhuvan found every household in his three fieldwork villages involved in cannabis cultivation, charas production and trade. He describes charas as income alongside apple, pear and plum orchards and tourist guesthouses, often worth more than those "primary" sources.[7]: 508–509 Charas, he writes, raised household incomes in the valley "by almost 50 to 100%", especially for families of the lower castes with little land.[7]: 509–510 A man of the lohar caste told him that "growing charas does not require you to own family land [khandaani zamin]. Charas is grown on government land [sarkaari zameen], of which there is plenty for everyone."[7]: 509 One guesthouse owner he describes bought charas in bulk from producers and sold it to his guests by the tola of 10 g; for most guesthouse owners, he writes, "selling charas was an equally important part of their business".[7]: 509 Most women in these villages took part in cultivating and harvesting but "rarely participated in sale". Money from the trade was sometimes called bhang ka paisa ("cannabis money"), with the sense of money made by selling intoxication to the young.[7]: 510–511
Traditional cultivation
Tribhuvan found cannabis "cultivated on state forest-land, at a higher altitude from villages in the valley", on sites chosen to keep police away from the plantations. Forest was cleared for it by burning, with fires to be seen in the upper forest "in the months of February and March".[7]: 513 The Tribune reported in 2019 that "95 per cent of the cannabis is grown in high-altitude forest areas in perilous terrain in Kullu, Mandi, Shimla, Sirmaur and Chamba districts".[29] The same week it described growers in remote areas "using forest lands in high-altitude areas to produce hybrid cannabis plants to meet the market demand".[8] The collection documentation reports fields moving higher under police pressure. At Rasol "many farmers have moved their fields higher into the mountains". At Tosh the Kutla fields, "once among the most productive, have been largely abandoned due to law enforcement raids"; the collector's status index records the lower Kutla fields as eradicated in 2005.[17][18][5] At Lapas a local cultivator keeps a small plot near his house "reserved for selecting seeds from the most vigorous and resinous plants found in his larger fields".[19]
The accession pages record cultivation systems in rotation, as mono-crops or intercropped, together with semi-feral and feral stands; the 2025 accessions are recorded as grown in rotating monoculture. They give plant heights of 1.5 to 3 m and, where an aspect is recorded, mostly slopes facing south-west; charas is the product recorded for every accession. The collection documentation classifies the Grahan population as an "NLD type landrace population", the narrow-leaflet drug-type.[15]
Planting season
Harvest
The collection documentation gives the harvest as September to November at Grahan and Lapas and October to November at Rasol and Tosh.[15][19][17][18] The accession pages that record a harvest window give September to December. The 2025 accessions were collected between 14 and 29 October. Nine of the 2022 accessions from Grahan, Pulgi and Thunja carry collection dates of 7 to 14 September 2023, although their harvest year is recorded as 2022. A diary post about the walk up to Grahan is dated 8 September 2022.[16] The collection documentation lists collecting at Grahan in 2022, 2023 and 2024.[15]
Processing
Appellations
The accessions name ten appellations: Grahan, Pulgi, Thunja, Rasol, Vairam, Gohar, Tosh, Tosh Kutla, Tosh Glacier and Lapas. Tosh Glacier is the appellation of two Sharam Thatch accessions from the Kutla fields above Tosh.
Accessions
| Accession ID | Name | Locality | Elevation | Collected |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| COC-IND-HIM-0100000001 | "1920" Parvati General Population | |||
| COC-IND-HIM-0100000002 | ChunLion Shilha General Population | |||
| COC-IND-HIM-0100000005 | Shilha General Population | Shilha | ||
| COC-IND-HIM-0120180001 | Rasol General Population 2018 | Rasol | ||
| COC-IND-HIM-0120180001-R1 | 2018 COC Rasol Reproduction | Rasol | ||
| COC-IND-HIM-0120190001 | Grahan General Population 2019 | Grahan | 2,298 m | |
| COC-IND-HIM-0120200001 | Kalga General Population 2020 | Kalga | 2,500 m | |
| COC-IND-HIM-0120200001-R1 | 2020 COC Kalga Reproduction | Kalga | ||
| COC-IND-HIM-0120200003 | Pulga General Population 2020 | Pulga | 2,895 m | |
| COC-IND-HIM-0120210001 | Lapash General Population 2021 | Lapash | ||
| COC-IND-HIM-0120210002 | Tosh General Population 2021 | Tosh | 2,000 m | |
| COC-IND-HIM-0120210005 | Choj General Population 2021 | Choj | ||
| ILE-IND-HIM-0120210003 | Tosh Valley 2021 | |||
| LMF-IND-HIM-0120250002 | Pulga Village 2025 | Pulga | ||
| LMF-IND-HIM-0120260003 | Rasol 2026 | Rasol | ||
| LMF-IND-HIM-0120260004 | Tosh Village Domesticated 2026 | Kutla | ||
| RSC-IND-HIM-0120210002 | Rasoli General Population 2021 | Rasol | ||
| RSC-IND-HIM-0120240001 | Parvati General Population 2024 | |||
| ZOM-IND-HIM-0920220011 | Grahan General Population 2022 | Grahan | 2,321 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-0920220012 | Grahan 'Village' Selection 2022 | Grahan | 2,321 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-0920220013 | Grahan 'Riverside' Selection 2022 | Grahan | 2,187 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-0920220014 | Grahan 'Lower Terraces' Selection 2022 | Grahan | 2,353 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-0920220015 | Grahan 'Kutla' Selection 2022 | Grahan | 2,769 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-0920220016 | Grahan 'Pulgi' Selection 2022 | Pulgi | 2,289 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-0920220017 | Grahan 'Thunja' Selection 2022 | Thunja | 2,458 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-0920220018 | Grahan Feral Selection 2022 | Grahan | 2,298 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-0920220019 | Rasol General Population 2022 | Rasol | 2,277 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-0920220020 | Rasol 'Village' Selection 2022 | Rasol | 2,277 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-0920220021 | Rasol 'Vairam' Selection 2022 | Rasol | 2,788 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-0920220022 | Rasol 'Vairam Top' Selection 2022 | Rasol | 2,933 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-0920220023 | Rasol 'Ja' Selection 2022 | Rasol | 2,797 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-0920220024 | Rasol 'Oridhar' Selection 2022 | Rasol | 2,821 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-0920220025 | Gohar 'Parla Thatch' Selection 2022 | Gohar | 2,976 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-0920220026 | Rasol Feral Selection 2022 | Rasol | 2,277 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-0920220027 | Tosh General Population 2022 | Tosh | 2,535 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-0920220028 | Tosh 'Village' Selection 2022 | Tosh | 2,535 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-0920220029 | Tosh 'Upper' Selection 2022 | Tosh | 2,639 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-0920220030 | Tosh Feral Selection 2022 | Tosh | 2,535 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-0920220031 | Tosh-Kutla 'Village' General Population 2022 | Tosh-Kutla | 2,764 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-0920220032 | Tosh-Kutla 'Village' Selection 2022 | Tosh-Kutla | 2,764 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-0920220033 | Tosh-Kutla 'Goi' Selection 2022 | Tosh-Kutla | 3,100 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-0920220034 | Tosh-Kutla 'Goi Black' Selection 2022 | Tosh-Kutla | 3,100 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-0920220035 | Tosh-Kutla 'Chhorang' Selection 2022 | Tosh-Kutla | 2,954 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-0920220036 | Tosh-Kutla 'Chhorang Black' Selection 2022 | Tosh-Kutla | 2,954 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-0920220037 | Tosh-Kutla 'Sharam Thatch' Selection 2022 | Tosh-Kutla | 3,237 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-0920220038 | Tosh-Kutla 'Sharam Thatch' Feral Selection 2022 | Tosh-Kutla | 3,237 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-0920220114 | Grahan 'Upper Terraces' Selection 2022 | Grahan | 2,425 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-0920220115 | Grahan 'Topside' Selection 2022 | Grahan | 2,580 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-0920220215 | Grahan 'Topside Purple Pheno' Selection 2022 | Grahan | 2,580 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-1020220001 | Lapas Village General Population 2022 | Lapas | 2,208 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-1020220002 | Lapas ‘Upper’ Selection 2022 | Lapas | 2,853 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-1020220003 | Lapas ‘Sargi Top’ Selection 2022 | Lapas | 3,179 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-1020220004 | Lapas ‘Bareonah’ Selection 2022 | Lapas | 2,025 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-1020220005 | Lapas ‘Prem Baba’s’ Selection 2022 | Lapas | 2,208 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-1020220006 | Lapas ‘Prem Baba’s Hashplant’ Selection 2022 | Lapas | 2,208 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-1020220007 | Lapas ‘Tiny Seed’ Feral Selection 2022 | Lapas | 2,853 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-1020220008 | Lapas ‘Feral' Selection 2022 | Lapas | 2,208 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-1020220117 | Lapas ‘Big Seed’ Feral Selection 2022 | Lapas | 2,853 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-1020250001 | Rasol 'Vairam' General Population #1 2025 | Rasol | 2,650 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-1020250002 | Rasol Pawan Selection 2025 | Rasol | 2,500 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-1020250003 | Rasol Maya Selection 2025 | Rasol | 2,600 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-1020250007 | Thunja Village General Population #1 2025 | Thunja | 2,450 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-1020250008 | Thunja Village General Population #2 2025 | Thunja | 2,450 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-1020250009 | Thunja Dilip General Population #1 2025 | Thunja | 2,600 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-1020250010 | Thunja Dilip General Population #2 2025 | Thunja | 2,600 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-1020250011 | Thunja Dilip General Population #3 2025 | Thunja | 2,600 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-1020250012 | Grahan Kutla Lower Terrace Selection 2025 | Grahan | 2,650 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-1020250013 | Grahan Kutla Middle Terrace Selection 2025 | Grahan | 2,650 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-1020250014 | Grahan Kutla Forest Selection 2025 | Grahan | 2,700 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-1020250015 | Grahan Kutla 'Tangie' Selection 2025 | Grahan | 2,700 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-1020250016 | Grahan Village General Population #2 2025 | Grahan | 2,370 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-1020250017 | Grahan Village General Population #3 2025 | Grahan | 2,370 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-1020250018 | Tosh Village General Population #1 2025 | Tosh | 2,400 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-1020250019 | Tosh Village General Population #2 2025 | Tosh | 2,400 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-1020250020 | Lapas Village General Population 2025 | Lapas | 2,550 m | |
| ZOM-IND-HIM-1120251700 | Grahan Village General Population 2025 | Grahan | 2,370 m |
Coco Genes accessions
Twelve of the accessions in the table above are Coco Genes lines that name the valley or one of its villages: COC-IND-HIM-0100000001 ("1920" Parvati), with no village; COC-IND-HIM-0100000002 and COC-IND-HIM-0100000005 from Shilha; COC-IND-HIM-0120180001 and its reproduction COC-IND-HIM-0120180001-R1 from Rasol; COC-IND-HIM-0120190001 from Grahan; COC-IND-HIM-0120200001 and its reproduction COC-IND-HIM-0120200001-R1 from Kalga; COC-IND-HIM-0120200003 from Pulga; COC-IND-HIM-0120210001 from Lapas; COC-IND-HIM-0120210002 from Tosh; COC-IND-HIM-0120210005 from Choj, near Kasol.
Enforcement
Cannabis cultivation and the production of charas are offences under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, which came into force on 14 November 1985.[33][7]: 508 The office of the Superintendent of Police at Kullu reported "around 510 cases (out of which 143 were local residents)" under the Act in the district in 2012.[7]: 510 A Press Trust of India report of 2026 stated that O. P. Sharma, as superintendent of the Narcotics Control Bureau, had led operations in "Malana, Manikaran, Tosh, Banjar, Kasol" and other areas between 2002 and 2006. The report also stated that foreigners "penetrated the Parvati Valley with hybrid foreign cannabis seeds".[34]
Photographs posted by the Kullu police in June 2011 in a series on a cannabis destruction campaign show cannabis fields "near village Gohar, Manikaran" and at Lower and Upper Yorum Thach, one plant "more than 12 feet long".[35] A Tribune report of 2017 on the supply of heroin, cocaine and smack in the Kullu-Manali area stated that "international drug mafia was involved in supply to areas like Manikaran, Malana and Parbati valley frequented by a large number of foreigners".[36] In 2019 the district police destroyed cannabis on 6,175 bigha across Kullu district.[8] In September 2022 a two-week operation of the Central Bureau of Narcotics destroyed cannabis on 12,900 bigha (1,032 ha) of forest land in the district;[37] Hindi-language coverage, which gave the operation as about three weeks and 13,000 bigha, named Grahan and Tosh among the localities.[38]
On the night of 10 to 11 October 2023 the police arrested 34 people "in various parts of the Manikaran valley" and seized 5.71 kg of cannabis, 110.57 kg of hemp seed and Rs 91,000 in cash. They found 2.83 lakh plants on 235 bigha of forest land, among them more than 2 lakh on 150 bigha at Rajag Thach, near Grahan.[30] The collector's status index records the riverside fields at Grahan as eradicated in 2024, a status it defines as "Confirmed destroyed by enforcement"; the collection documentation says the riverside plots "were largely lost due to new road construction in 2024".[5][15] In December 2025 the police arrested a man from Chalal, "in Manikaran valley", with 6 kg of charas.[39] In June 2026 the Himachal Pradesh High Court ordered the transfer of the district's deputy commissioner, superintendent of police and sub-divisional magistrate for failing to maintain public order, in a case concerning a ticketed event held from 7 to 11 June in forest at Grahan, near Kasol. A performer at the event died of a suspected drug overdose.[34] Punjab Kesari reported on 27 September 2026, citing departmental information, that a team of the Narcotics Control Bureau, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police and the State Task Force had destroyed cannabis on about 10 hectares of forest in the Tosh beat, uprooting about 12 lakh plants.[40]
Regulated cultivation
The authors of the 2018 survey of the Manikaran valley wrote that the plant "can be legalized like in neighboring states so as to provide livelihood to the locals".[26] In July 2026 Himachal Pradesh permitted the controlled cultivation of cannabis for medicinal, scientific and industrial purposes under a licensing regime. Outlook reported the state government's view that such cultivation "can boost the rural economy", with Kullu among the districts where it could bring farmers new income.[9]
Conservation status
The accession pages record cultivation as active everywhere except the riverside field at Grahan, recorded as eradicated on 1 September 2024. The collector's status index tags Pini, Rasol village and its Vairam fields, Grahan village and its terrace fields, Pulgi village, the Thunja fields, Tosh village and the upper Kutla fields as under ongoing eradication.[5] The collection documentation calls the Lapas and Bareonah population "endangered", with "increasing tourism and hybridization" threatening it. It names "external hybrid genetics" as a risk to the Rasol landrace and "the introduction of hybridized commercial cannabis" as "an emerging concern" at Tosh.[19][17][18] The accession pages give the Zomia Genetic Library as the seed store of the Zomia accessions and Coco Genes as that of the Coco Genes lines.
Recent news
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Sharma, Gaurav; Lata, Renu; Thakur, Nandini; Bajala, Vishal; Kuniyal, Jagdish Chandra; Kumar, Kireet (1 June 2021). "Application of Multivariate Statistical Analysis and Water Quality Index for Quality Characterization of Parbati River, Northwestern Himalaya, India". Research Square (Preprint). doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-492884/v1.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Punjab District Gazetteers, Vol. XXX-A: Kangra District, Parts II–IV (Kulu, Lahul and Spiti). Lahore: Government of Punjab. 1918 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Diack, A.H. (1899). Gazetteer of the Kangra District, Parts II to IV: Kulu, Lahul and Spiti, 1897. Lahore: Punjab Government – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lyall, J. B. (1874). Report of the Land Revenue Settlement of the Kangra District, Panjab, 1865–72. Lahore: Central Jail Press – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 "Growing Regions". Zomia Collective. Retrieved 27 September 2026.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94, Vol. V: Evidence of witnesses from North-Western Provinces and Oudh and Punjab. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India. Punjab witness no. 10, Mr. Alexander Anderson, pp. 377–380 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ 7.00 7.01 7.02 7.03 7.04 7.05 7.06 7.07 7.08 7.09 7.10 7.11 7.12 7.13 Tribhuvan, Prasenjeet (2018). "Cannabis and Social Change in the Indian Himalayas". Journal of Ethnobiology. 38 (4): 504–516. doi:10.2993/0278-0771-38.4.504.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Manta, Dipender (23 September 2019). "Cannabis cultivation on in Kullu, Mandi". The Tribune. Tribune News Service.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Sharma, Ashwani (27 August 2026). "InDepth: Implications of Himachal Pradesh legalising the controlled cultivation of cannabis". Outlook India.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Moorcroft, William; Trebeck, George (1841). Wilson, H. H. (ed.). Travels in the Himalayan Provinces of Hindustan and the Panjab. Vol. I. London: John Murray – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Hazard Profile of District Kullu (PDF) (Report). District Disaster Management Authority, Kullu. 2018.
- ↑ Kulkarni, Anil V.; Rathore, B. P.; Mahajan, Suresh; Mathur, P. (2005). "Alarming retreat of Parbati glacier, Beas basin, Himachal Pradesh" (PDF). Current Science. 88 (11): 1844–1850.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Chandrasekharam, D.; Alam, M.A.; Minissale, A. (2005). Thermal Discharges at Manikaran, Himachal Pradesh, India (PDF) (Report). International Geothermal Association. Proceedings, World Geothermal Congress 2005, Antalya, Turkey, 24–29 April 2005, pp. 1–4.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Harcourt, A. F. P. (1871). The Himalayan Districts of Kooloo, Lahoul, and Spiti. London: W. H. Allen & Co. – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 15.6 "Grahan Valley". Zomia Collective. Retrieved 31 August 2026.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Éloïse (8 September 2022). "Kasol to Grahan". Zomia Collective. Retrieved 27 September 2026.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 17.4 17.5 "Rasol". Zomia Collective. Retrieved 27 September 2026.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 18.4 "Tosh". Zomia Collective. Retrieved 27 September 2026.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4 "Lapas". Zomia Collective. Retrieved 27 September 2026.
- ↑ पार्बती - II [Parbati II]. NHPC India (in हिन्दी). NHPC Limited. Retrieved 27 September 2026.
- ↑ पार्बती - III [Parbati III]. NHPC India (in हिन्दी). NHPC Limited. Retrieved 27 September 2026.
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 Directorate of Census Operations, Himachal Pradesh (2014). District Census Handbook, Kullu: Village and Town Wise Primary Census Abstract (Report). Census of India 2011, Himachal Pradesh, Series 03, Part XII-B. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India.
- ↑ "Administrative Setup". District Kullu. Government of Himachal Pradesh. Retrieved 27 September 2026.
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 Diack, A. H. (1898). Final Report on the Revised Settlement of the Kulu Sub-division of the Kangra District – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ "History". District Kullu. Government of Himachal Pradesh. Retrieved 27 September 2026.
- ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 26.3 26.4 26.5 26.6 26.7 Rathore, S.; Shashni, S.; Samant, S.S.; Sundriyal, R.C. (2018). "Indigenous uses of wild hemp (Cannabis sativa) by the local inhabitants in Manikaran Valley of Himachal Pradesh, North Western Himalaya". Journal of Non-Timber Forest Products. 25 (3): 127–130. doi:10.54207/bsmps2000-2018-7393KF.
- ↑ "In remote Indian village, cannabis is its only livelihood". Dawn. Associated Press. 5 December 2016.
- ↑ Manta, Dipender (1 December 2018). "The curious case of missing foreigners". The Tribune.
- ↑ 29.0 29.1 Lohumi, Bhanu P (24 September 2019). "Drones to spot cannabis crop in Himachal". The Tribune. Tribune News Service.
- ↑ 30.0 30.1 "Crackdown on cannabis mafia in Kullu, 34 arrested". The Tribune. 13 October 2023.
- ↑ कुल्लू में चरस मामलों में आई कमी, एक्साइज के बढ़े मामले, तस्करों के निशाने पर नेपाली मूल के लोग [Charas cases fall in Kullu, excise cases rise, people of Nepali origin in the smugglers' sights]. ETV Bharat (in हिन्दी). 6 January 2025.
- ↑ Young, G. M. (1916). "Malana and the Akbar-Jamlu Legend". Journal of the Panjab Historical Society. 4 (2) – via Tharah Kardu.
- ↑ The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985(Act No. 61 of 1985), 1985, sections 2(iii) and 8.India.
- ↑ 34.0 34.1 "Why is Parvati valley in Kullu considered safe haven for rave parties". The Tribune. PTI. 30 June 2026. Retrieved 27 September 2026.
- ↑ "Photos of Cannabis Destruction Campaign 2". Kullu Police. 30 June 2011. Retrieved 27 September 2026.
- ↑ Chauhan, Pratibha (15 February 2017). "Mafia pumping drugs in Manikaran, Malana". The Tribune.
- ↑ "Cannabis plants destroyed on 12,900-bigha forestland in Kullu". The Tribune. Tribune News Service. 21 September 2022.
- ↑ Central Bureau of Narcotics की बड़ी कार्रवाई, 13 हजार बीघा भूमि से नष्ट की चरस की खेती [Major Central Bureau of Narcotics operation: charas cultivation destroyed on 13,000 bigha of land]. ETV Bharat (in हिन्दी). 20 September 2022.
- ↑ "Kullu Police Bust Hashish Haul from Manikaran Village". HimbuMail. 3 December 2025. Retrieved 27 September 2026.
- ↑ Kullu: तोष और मलाणा में NCB, ITBP व STF की बड़ी कार्रवाई, 25 हैक्टेयर भूमि पर अवैध भांग की खेती नष्ट [Kullu: major action by the NCB, ITBP and STF at Tosh and Malana; illegal cannabis cultivation destroyed on 25 hectares]. Punjab Kesari (in हिन्दी). 27 September 2026. Retrieved 27 September 2026.